Great Christmas Gifts for the NFL

Happy Thanksgiving

Another Day in Paradise

Kairos

Kairos is a cool word. An ancient Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment. A undetermined period of time in which something special happens. What the special something is depends on who is using the word.

Sophists, paid lecturers of the 5th century, stressed it is a key ability to adapt to and take advantage of changing, contingent circumstances.

Aristotle the time and space context in which the proof will be delivered to an audience in order to reawaken them to the speaker.

The New Testament refers to Kairos as the point in time where God changes things. The appointed time in the purpose of God.

I like kairos as the special thing that happens when God shows up. The time when it's an Oh My God moment and the Holy Spirit shows up big. I'm sure the appointed time in the purpose of God isn't always dramatic. I still like to think of this mysterious word as God's wake up moment. The time when God reveals him self, leaving all uncertainty a side.

My Redeemer Lives - Team Hoyt

"Incredible video about the relationship between a father and son.... and God's relationship with us."

The Story

Faith and Politics

Last night on CNN there was an interview with the two Democratic Presidential Candidates that focused on Faith and Politics. Yes, it was the Democratic Presidential Candidates. Leaving the political arguments out of things for a minute I want to say how cool I thought it was. Some will say they were pandering, some will say they didn’t like this position or that position, some wont like the idea at all.

I hope God will use this to open doors for people of faith and seekers to have conversations they may not have other wise had.

Way too Cool!

Home!

I’ve been working out of town for a few weeks and I just walked in the door. H O M E! I never thought it would be so refreshing to be home. Hugging my wife and kids has never been better. If I play my cards right I might even get a home cooked meal. I forgot how comfortable MY spot on the couch is…Yeah. My own bed, my friends, my clicker, my big screen; I know I’m really going to enjoy being home for a change. All 49 hours. Yeah baby!

Benja is Home!

Yesterday my brother in-law returned home from Uganda with his newly adopted son Benja. My wife’s sister and her husband have been trying to adopt this orphan boy from Uganda for quite sometime. We are all so excited to have him home.

My brother in-law traveled to Uganda several times and sent back emails during his trip. Americans are not popular in Uganda and while he was there he hired a driver to help him get around. At night there was bombing and gunfire. He had been told to stay in his hotel and every time he went out, everyone stares and calls out "light man". He was told that he was in harms way. There has been risk of kidnappings and he risked his safety in attempt to help this boy. Below is an excerpt from one of the emails he sent.

Sent: Mon 10/22/07

Today, I went to the end of the earth, starting with bad roads to dirt roads to
no road at all, just a walking path, ending up at a mud house with mud floor.
It was raining and my driver thank God had a 4 x 4.  It took nearly four hours,
but the destination was important.  It was benja’s six brothers and sisters, and
his 78 year old grandmother.  we were invited in to sit on three small chairs
like ones made for kindergarten.  they were so happy to see their baby brother,
who they had not seen for 3.5 years.  They greeted him warmly, and his
grandmother gave me a chicken and an african sleeping mat.  I was told I could
not refuse, which devastated me because there were no other chickens.  When they
gave me gifts, i wept.  i just couldn’t handle that.  we brought food but they
have so little.  they  were turned away from school in a nearby village for lack
of money.

i never knew people could have so little.  they wanted for even a candle, and
the house was so dark where we met, i could not see them all unless they were by
the doorway.

On the way there, my guide knew the spot where Benja was born—on the side of
the road, where his mother gave birth and died.  she was in labor and on her way
to the hospital on a boda boda, which is a motorcycle taxi.  she fell off and died,
giving birth to benja as her last act of life.

please pray for these people and all like them.  Uganda is a place of real
wonder.  beauty, riches, poverty, and death.  I’ll never be the same.

Thank you for all your prayers.  i am being summoned by my driver that I need to go.

To Be Baptized or Not To Be Baptized

I grew up Catholic and was baptized when I was a baby. Its been on my heart to be baptized again. Over the last five or six months almost every time I open my bible someone is being baptized. I feel like God was telling me to take the plunge.

At first I was a little uncomfortable about the whole thing. I’ve been active in my church and I volunteer at a faith based place that helps people in poverty. I coach a group that prays with people about their problems and helps them through their situations in a tangible way. I know most of the staff at church and lots of the congregation. I would say to myself “Everyone knows whose side I’m on; I live an obedient life. But am I being obedient?” So pride was a big hurtle.

At the church I belong to they baptize people once a quarter and last November I couldn’t attend a class my church requires before taking the big plunge. I had mixed feelings about not being able to attend. The class is always on the Wednesday before the Sunday pool party. I work out of town so I thought I wouldn’t be able to attend the class until I could find a job in town.

I had a job interview and needed to do some things in town so I took last week off. After being home for a few days I realized that it was baptism week so I decided to be baptized. I asked my pastor if he had any problems with dunking over weight people in the pool and he felt like my buoyancy would help him get my head back out of the water before I required additional air. So I was set.

I set my pride aside, well mostly, and went for it. The Senior Pastor had just returned from a mission trip in Nigeria. He witnessed the drilling of the first well our church dug in an area that had no access to clean water. He brought back a bottle of the water from the well and poured it into the baptismal and the celebration began.

I was third in line and was letting Jesus know that I was surrendering through prayer. The church contemporary Christian band was rocking out worship music. My pastor led me into the pool, said a quick prayer and dunked me into the water. I haven’t felt the same since.

I came out feeling lighter and I have a sensation around me that I can’t describe. The feeling is a cleaner sense but much more than what I can explain. When I read the bible or hear a song about Christ it means so much more. I didn’t expect any of this. It was just a plunge in water… right? It has meant so much more.

Isn’t God Great!

A friend of mine has a son that has heart problems. The young man, about 9, was born with problems and has had a couple of surgeries and now has issues with two valves on one side of his heart. This has caused the boys heart to enlarge on one side.

The young man had a 3 ½ hour MRI last week. All the staff was so impressed with his ability to refrain from fidgeting and all the other stuff you would expect with a youngster his age. The MRI staff was able to review the results with my friend before he left.

He was concerned as they explained what they were seeing in the 3D pictures of the heart. The staff was caring but concerned as they described the heart and the enlargement of one side. As you can imagine all this has weighed heavily on this fathers heart.

My friend has been praying so heard and we have been praying for his entire family. A few days before the MRI our small group was praying for the family and one person said he could see the finger of God healing his heart. Everyone was encouraged.

It was expected that the boy would need surgery very soon as the family left to meet the doctor. The doctor compared the results with previous analysis and he was very surprised. As the Lord would have it, there has been little progression and many years will pass before the boy will need to even discuss surgery.

My friend is walking on cloud nine. He says he feels like he is three inches taller. How are things going to go in the future? One only needs to ask the young man. My friend did before the results were in. The caring father asked his son if he was worried about things and his son said that God has healed me in the past, He’ll do it again. What Great Faith! My friend said that he wants to be like his son when he grows up. What a Champion this young man is.

The Lord Reigns and His Grace has rained on His humble servants once again.

Isn’t God Great!

Bible Management

As most managers, I’ve read many management/leadership books throughout my professional career but I’ve never looked at the Bible as a management tool. There are many books about this practice but I looked at things a little differently.

The main focus has been on the competitiveness of the Apostle's. You know where they start to argue about who’s the greatest. Jesus tells them that the greatest among them will be the biggest servers. Also Paul has some things to say about leading from a point relationship, the use of harsh joking and tons of other stuff. I used the New Testament and didn’t go back to Nehemiah or any of the other Old Testament books.

The facility was well below standard for labor, yields, and just about everything else. So we started with the basics.

We fostered a servant attitude in every area. Requiring as many people as possible to train or help someone complete a task. The leadership on the plant floor was encouraged to train someone to replace them so they would have an opportunity to be promoted. While doing this we were able to promote people into low level leadership roles through the addition of new production lines.

A spirit of achievement was fostered by setting goals throughout the operation and celebrating the successes as often as possible. We made sure everyone knew what a good job was and we looked for the good things while correcting the bad things. This was done with the requirement that correction had to be done from a point of relationship. People began to crave the praise.

The result has been that attitude and profits are way up. If we don’t get better than we are today we will add well over 900K to the bottom line over the next twelve months. It looks like the Bible is a good management tool.

Sign of the Cross

Did you see Around the Horn today? Tony Reali had a big Cross on his forehead. I think it was cool for him to go all out in his statement of faith.

It’s Ash Wednesday and he celebrates the occasion by having a Priest apply burnt palm leaves to his forehead. I’ve never seen anyone with such a big cross on Ash Wednesday. I hope he has a bigger heart for Jesus.

Favorite Super Bowl Ad

Honorable Mention









Really Gross

Fighting with Doubt or Idol laughter

I was checking out churches in the Cleveland area. So far, well …I’m not excited. Have you heard of Dennis Kucinich? I think he’s kind of out there but as I look into the churches I can see he is representing his constituency well.

Most are traditional small churches. There is one larger church in the bunch that I’ve looked into. It surprised me the most. I hope God is moving in all of them and I’m sure the problem is more mine than anything else.

But I was looking at this larger churches web site. They have one video posted that I assume they feel is the best representation of the church. Makes sense right.

The video is of the pastor in a boxing match with doubt. The audience wraps around three sides of the stage and the stage has been made into a boxing ring with ropes around the edge. Doubt is a guy in the black corner with Don King by his side. You can see the how things are going to work with the Bible right. Not Don King but the King, Jesus. The pastor wins right? Well they don’t show the pastor winning on the video but they do show him hit the mat several times. This is a real looking boxing match. Not much commentary; lots of bouncing around the ring.

This whole thing must have sounded better on paper than it looked on the clip. I would’ve thought maybe the guy tried something and it just didn’t go the way he wanted it to on stage. I’d give the pastor some grace but this is the only video on the web site. I can only assume that this went exactly the way he wanted it to and he must be proud of the way it went.

It felt like I was watching American Idol. You know the early shows where you feel embarrassed for the contestants because they make such fools of themselves. Yeah that’s the feeling; laughing but not feeling comfortable about it; looking around to see if everyone else is laughing.

Yeah …. that’s the most popular church in the area.

Faith in the Storm

Today I met a guy that recently moved into a new apartment. (Let’s call him Sam.) Sam had to leave everything his family had behind because there were bed bugs in the old apartment. Once you have bed bugs in your stuff you can’t kill them or get them out. Anything soft you own goes in the garbage.

He felt blessed because his relatives pitched in and bought them new furniture. Also he was able to get some bedding and clothes from a local church. It was interesting talking to the guy about his life.

He seemed to have been crying out to the Lord for help and he was finding it. Even in his situation he was praising God. It seems he found God and HIV in prison, probably not in that order. Sam was released in 2006 after committing a felony eight years earlier. He has been having trouble finding a job because of the conviction on his record. If his family wanted nothing to do with him Sam would most likely be living on the streets. There are limited government programs for healthy able body guys that can work but no one will hire.

I asked him if there was anything he would like to pray about and we brought these things to the Lord. On Monday he would be headed to an organization that helps people meet the requirements for expunging their records. If that works out he’ll be able to get a job. He will most likely start at a place that pays at or near minimum wage and “Sam” will praise God for the opportunity.

Tithe

I met a guy today that is a rugged individual that hit his knees.

He found himself out of a job and decided go to truck driving school. In his late forties he drew a line in the sand and started over. I don’t know what he was doing before he made this change but you can imagine the self talk. I’m going to give up what I’ve done my whole life and make a change for the better and he did it. He is actually working as a truck driver now. He’s in a tough spot though. Because he went to school he wasn’t working and now the landlord wants the rent.

This new trucker feels he is in this situation because he didn’t pay his tithes. What do you think? He lost his job and worked to get out of a bad situation but now before he gets on his feet his family may be homeless.

I have an interview next week. I’m so excited. I can’t wait until Wednesday. I hope I get the job. I’ve been praying for God’s help and I feel good about the opportunity.

The job will be a little challenging but it’s nothing I can’t handle. All I need to do is knock the interview it out of the park. I’m going to prepare for it like nothing else. Pray for me, I need all the help I can get. God has something for me, I hope this is it.

Not that the job will pay over the top money. In fact it will pay me less than I’m making now, about 5K less. However the job will bring me home.

I’ve been working in the Cleveland area. Working in Cleveland and coming home to Cincinnati for the weekends, for the last 5 months, hasn’t been the most fun I’ve ever had. The job was fulfilling but I miss being home.

My corporate housing runs out tomorrow and I have next week off so this job would be just in time. Just like God, right on time.

Bubba Q or BBQ

I was in Avon Ohio today and stopped by a place called Bubba Q. Great little place if you like true southern BBQ.

The waitress hands you several napkins saying “one for your lap and one for your lip, no use wasting a sleeve.” Great attitude, bright and cheery with her hair pulled back, quality southern draw. I would've felt like I was deep in the Carolinas if she would've given me a high quality Jack O’ Lantern grin. But she didn’t. That was the only disappointing thing about the place.

I met the owner Al Baker. He played DE for the Lions, Browns and Vikings in his younger days. Al has a larger than life personality that can be heard all over the restaurant. A customer requested a fork and Al got him one but everyone knew a guy in a tie asked for a fork in a southern BBQ joint. Al says “These are my Mama’s recipes and I don’t think they have ever been eaten with a fork but I’ll get you one; right away!” As he walks across the room he laments out loud “Do you people believe this guy wants a fork? Down south we just ate with our hands.” On and on he went, all the way form one end of the restaurant to the other. The whole place was laughing, even the guy in the tie.

I had the pulled pork with sweet potato fries and sweet tea. Quality goods! It had the right amount of apple wood smoke.

As I left the waitress suggested that I keep the sun on my face and the wind at my back. I was headed back to Cincinnati and I was happy to be able to take her advice.

Al Baker pictured above.

It’s easy to have faith!

Mark 10:49-52

⁴⁹Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." ⁵⁰Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

⁵¹"What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see."

⁵²"Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

Wow what a day. Bartimaeus had an awesome day. He cried out "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" and it happened. Jesus healed him right there. Bartimaeus asked for what he wanted and he got it.

Is it all about faith? I don’t know. I love me some Jesus and I know He’ll take care of me but, Man; He rarely takes care of me the way I want Him to take care of me.

Don’t get me wrong I have been blessed. I married up, I have the best kids around, I have great friends, and my church community has been so awe inspiring its unbelievable. Yet when I’m in that place, man…

I know He’s going to come through. He knows my needs. I’ve seen Him move in my life and others. When the chips are down, He shows up BIG.

I guess the problem is He knows how He’s going to take care of me and I don’t, no mater how smart I think I am.

But in that time I guess I should cheer up! Get on my feet! Because He’s calling me to have faith so He can heal me.

Sounds easy!

Big Callused Hands

Last Saturday I met a guy that recently got out of prison. The guy has been working on cars to pay for the hotel he lives in. He got cheated by a guy that lured him away from a job that paid him “less” by not paying him at all. He got his old job back but needed the money to pay for the next week’s hotel bill.

The terms of his parole keep him from staying in a shelter or halfway house. That means if he didn’t get the cash he’d be living under a bridge in the cold. If you hadn’t noticed it’s been way too cold in Cincinnati.

I don’t know what he did to get locked up but it must have been incredibly bad. It was bad enough to be segregated from other parolees and the homeless. Wow! At first I was uneasy but after talking to the guy for a several minutes I realized that he was trying to turn his life around.

He had accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Also he had a better than expected knowledge of the bible. I was still slightly uncomfortable, after all the bible is well known by the dark side.

I asked if there was anything he would like to pray about and we addressed these things with the Lord. While we were praying I saw the grill of a reptile that had at least a hundred very narrow and sharp teeth. Now that I think about it I’m surprised that I had no fear or judgment toward the man. As we prayed the image became bright white. When we were done this 5’ 11”, 240 pound guy with big rough hands was reduced to tears. God showed up right then and there.

He phoned his boss and he felt like he would be working the next morning to pay for a nights stay in the hotel. Also his boss sounded like he would pay him daily for his work so he could have a place to stay. His friend was moving to town this weekend and he could live with him. That meant if he could get through the night he would most likely be out of the cold at least for now.

The Lord took care of everything, even the cash for a room for the night. I hope he makes it.

Writing On Walls

I was able to do the coolest thing today. I went through this building that’s being refurbished. The place will soon be full of people that need help in a lot of different ways.

People will come in to get help with real “Oh my God” situations. Some are going to need help keeping their home; some will need help getting control of their check book. Also some will come in to get a live music fix or maybe just to hang out and visit.

Its part of the church I belong to. I guess this building is church light. It’s called the Healing Center.

I walked through the place, along with others, and prayed for the people soon to be coming, volunteering and managing the place. We wrote scripture on the back of the sheet rock that will soon be the walls.

Way too cool.

Check out the project.

http://www.vineyardcincinnati.com/vcc.php?id=1016&play=2